Service Level Agreement (SLA)
What it is
An SLA is an agreement between a company and its customer that sets targets such as first response within one hour for urgent tickets, and often defines remedies if they're missed.
Why it matters
SLAs make support quality enforceable. Escalated tickets are the most likely to breach because they depend on another team's time.
Best practices
- Set internal targets below the SLA – Leave a buffer.
- Alert before breach – Not after.
- Align engineering – If support's SLA depends on engineering, engineering needs a target too.
How Decimal helps
Decimal helps teams meet SLAs by responding immediately and cutting the investigation time that usually causes breaches.